In the 49th minute of Monday’s game in Nizhny Novgorod between Torpedo and Dinamo Minsk, the Belarusian team’s defenseman, Lukas Krajicek, was sent off for the remainder of the game after the referee deemed him guilty of endangering an opponent by high-sticking. Video footage of the incident, however, shows that both Krajicek (#25) and teammate Jaroslav Kristek (#29) were holding their sticks aloft at the same time, but that it was Kristek’s stick which collided with Torpedo forward Jarkko Immonen’s face while Krajicek’s made contact with the puck.
The KHL Disciplinary Committee recognized that this was a case of mistaken identity, has therefore annulled the major plus game misconduct penalty (5+20 minutes) handed to Lukas Krajicek for dangerous high-sticking, and has imposed the aforementioned punishment on the guilty party, Jaroslav Kristek. The Committee did not consider Kristek’s foul serious enough to warrant further disciplinary sanctions.
